


Zitka

by nxttime



Series: Talon!Dick's maneuvering through life [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Bruce is a good new dad, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Gen, Oh, Talon!Dick au, and he's a good boss, because why not, gettin' his employees presents, very good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 05:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17440436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nxttime/pseuds/nxttime
Summary: Dick has never been shopping before, and has never really cared to. Bruce takes him to a store for some baby shower presents, and Dick wanders a bit, before finding the stuffed animal section. Then things happen.





	Zitka

**Author's Note:**

> I sat down and said, “I’m gonna write something nice,” so I did. Here you go. You’re welcome.  
> Talon!Dick AU, because I’ve always wanted to do one.  
> In this, Bruce has rescued Dick from the Court. Dick was with the Court since his parents died, and at present is seventeen. So he’s been with the Court about nine years, and has never had much (any) social interaction. He’s not mute and knows English, but he tries to avoid talking, because the Court never let him use his voice. That’s all the explanation I can offer.  
> This is short.  
> I hope you like.

Dick walked down the aisle of the store Bruce had brought him to, hands in the pockets of the pants his new guardian had given him. His wavy hair kept falling over his eyes. It annoyed him a little, but Dick ignored the urge to grab a knife and cut them off himself. Instead, he continued scrutinizing the items on the shelves he passed.

What even were half these things? A _bonnet?_ Why were those clothes so small? Why was there a padded cage? Why was that seat so big? _What was with all the soft colors?_

Bruce was ahead of Dick, looking over the items thoughtfully. Dick wrinkled his nose.

Looking back, Bruce caught sight of Dick holding a stuffed animal and considering the plush toy, moving it from hand to hand. Smiling a little to himself, Bruce turned away to resume looking for a baby shower gift for Ashley and her wife Mary over in the R&D department. He had the list in a hand, and kept looking down at it periodically.

 _What is the point to this?_ Dick couldn’t, for his life, understand how the ridiculously soft fake animal would be useful. Did it hide weapons? Knives? Guns?

He squeezed it, to check, but all it did was bend under the pressure. When he stopped squeezing it, the thing went back to its previous shape.

The ex-Talon’s frown deepened.

A sudden urge to rip the thing’s head off surged, and Dick found it hard to ignore, so he grabbed the thing’s head with a hand, keeping the other on the body, and _yanked_. The orange head came off with a quick _‘shriiip’_ and cotton fell at Dick’s feet.

Impossibly, Dick’s frown grew. It’d been too easy to rip. Just what _was_ it for, then?

“Dick!”

Blinking, Dick looked up at his name. He was confused at the tone. What had he done wrong?

There was an expression on Bruce’s face that was half horror half amusement, and his body language meant he was mildly distressed. Behind Bruce, a mother and a girl around the age of nine slowly backed out of the aisle.

Dick tilted his head a little in question.

_What?_

“You don’t just rip the heads off of stuffed animals, Dick. At least pay for it before you decapitate it.”

His frown morphed into a scowl and Dick gestured to the stuffing-covered body in his hand.

_I don’t get it._

Bruce heaved a silent sigh and walked over, grabbing the dead tiger plush from Dick’s hand. At times like these, Bruce wished he’d been able to get to Dick before the Court had. The boy didn’t even know what a stuffed animal was, for Christ’s sake!

“This,” he started, “is a stuffed animal. People often gift them to newborns through six-year-olds.” Bruce tilted his head. “You never really get too old for a stuffed animal, though. They’re used for comfort and fun, normally.”

Dick’s head tilted again, but this time in thought. He looked back to the cage stuffed with the stuffed animals.

Bruce had said that one never got too old for a stuffed animal, hadn’t he? Grabbing a grey one, and toying with it in his hands, Dick wondered if he could have one. Now that he knew the purpose they served, he found himself intrigued on if they worked or not.

“You want the elephant?”

He looked up, confused, then back down at the stuffed animal in his hands. This was an elephant?

Looking at the soft toy in his hands, Dick supposed he got lost in a not-exactly-memory. He could smell popcorn, hay, and sodas. He heard laughter filled with excitement, chatter, and the sounds of an elephant trumpeting and tigers growling. His hands seemed smaller, holding the stuffed elephant, and the light dimmer.

A hand moving to his shoulder snapped him out of it and Dick jerked back instinctively, turning wide eyes to Bruce.

Bruce looked a little… worried? Why was he worried? Had Dick done something wrong? He looked to make sure he hadn’t ripped the elephant’s head off to find he hadn’t. Then what was the problem?

“Dick, are you okay?”

Oh. Bruce was concerned for Dick.

He nodded, then held the stuffed elephant out and pointed at it.

The question was clear: _Can I have this?_

Smiling, Bruce nodded. For some reason, something in Dick bubbled up with joy, excitement, and warmth.

Unused to the feeling, Dick started thinking about it as he followed Bruce—who was still looking for the perfect baby shower gift—around.

Eventually Bruce just bought the wives everything on the list, and had the items be shipped to his house for them to wrap the gifts.

And, as promised, Dick walked out with the stuffed elephant he’d used his voice to name as they exited.

“Zitka.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked! :D This just might become a series. Hm.


End file.
